Path of Exile 3.0.0: The Fall of Oriath Patch Notes

Removed the Cruel and Merciless difficulty levels. Path of Exile is now a single ten-act playthrough.

Added a new Character Selection Screen.

Added a new feature - the Pantheon system: Best the ancient gods of Wraeclast in battle and you can claim a portion of their power. There are four Major god powers and seven Minor god powers to be claimed in The Fall of Oriath. You can have one Major and one Minor power active at a time, and can return to any town or hideout to change which powers are active at no cost. Later, each power can be upgraded by placing a Divine Vessel in your map device before you defeat certain map bosses.

Added a new feature - the Help panel: As you play Path of Exile, you can unlock Help panel pages. These can be viewed by clicking on a new Help button next to the Shop button. Each panel is designed to introduce you to an aspect of Path of Exile's gameplay, and give you the tools you need to explore the features yourself.

Significantly updated the tutorial. It is integrated with the new Help system.

The game HUD has been updated to the Eclipse theme used throughout The Fall of Oriath.

Added 8 Vaal Side Areas with new bosses, found through areas in Oriath.

Added a Passive Skill Tree planning system.

Introduced new technology for rendering water throughout the game.

New Skill Gems:

Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem - Dark Pact: Sacrifice a portion of your skeleton minion's life to deal chaos damage in an area around it. This effect will chain to your other nearby skeletons. If you control no skeletons in the targeted area, you will sacrifice a portion of your own life and deal greater chaos damage in a larger area.

Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem - Storm Burst: Channel to unleash a stream of projectiles that deal lightning damage and always pierce through enemies. When you stop channeling, the projectiles explode, dealing significant damage in an area around them. Additional projectiles are added in sequence.

Added a new Dexterity Skill Gem - Charged Dash: Channel to project a mirage forward in the direction you're facing. Release to teleport towards the mirage and deal area of effect damage multiple times along the way. The area of effect grows based on the distance you travel, and the number of effects increase with faster attack time.

New Support Gems:

Added a new Strength/Intelligence Support Gem - Ignite Proliferation Support: Causes Ignites from supported skills to also affect other nearby enemies.

Added a new Strength Support Gem - Chance to Bleed Support: Gives your skills a chance to inflict Bleeding.

You can now queue up a 'detonate' action for Mines while they are arming to detonate them as soon as they have finished arming.

The Hellions in Prisoner's Gate have come down with an irreversible case of Scary Face.

The game client now flashes if you receive a whisper message while it is minimised.

Added support for dynamic resolution scaling. With this toggled on, the game attempts to maintain the specified target framerate by lowering the displayed resolution during particularly performance-heavy moments. This can be adjusted in the Graphics tab of the Options menu.

You are now warned before leaving the Labyrinth without using the Altar of Ascendancy.

The corner minimap and overlay map has been greatly improved. The corner minimap is now shown by default for new players.

Added a warning before exporting a Grandmaster, to prevent accidental submissions.

Environmental changes (such as those from moving the Vaal Seal and slaying the Vaal Oversoul) now occcur over a few seconds, rather than instantaneously.

The Dying Exile's voice acting has been rerecorded. Pretty short gig.

Nessa's model has been updated and her voice acting rerecorded.

Tarkleigh's model has been updated.

Piety's dialogue in Upper Prison now changes based on the player's character (originally this was restricted to Cruel and Merciless).

Your pets now occasionally play their other animations while they are idle.

Added a new keyword -- Far Shot: Projectile Attacks gain Damage as they travel farther, dealing up to 30% more Damage to targets.

Lore glyphs now continue to play across area transitions.

Added a feature to the Challenges tab which allows you to hide challenges you have already completed.

The Social panel now displays a different icon for your friends depending on whether they are in Part I (Acts 1-5), Part II (Acts 6-10) or Maps.

Added a new Zana quest to help guide players into the Atlas.

DirectX11 is now the default graphics option. This can be changed in the Options menu.

Added a Lighting Quality option to the Graphics menu.

The Marauder's act of self-flagellation on the character creation screen is now audible.

The Stacked Deck currency item can now drop from monsters.

Devourer holes now fade away after some time.

You are no longer prompted to vote on whether to help or kill Oak, Kraityn and Alira if you are not in their arenas.

The Stun visual effect now plays on stuns that last for 0.7 seconds or longer.

The left and right mouse buttons are no longer referred to as 'Left Mouse' and 'Right Mouse', and are now 'Left-click' and 'Right-click'.

Items that provide life regeneration based on a percentage of maximum life that also have a range now display the percentage value to two decimal places.

All sources of Phasing now correctly change the character's appearance.

The unique threshold jewel Fight for Survival's description has been updated. The functionality remains unchanged.

The description on Weylam's War Chest has been updated. The functionality remains unchanged.

Continued to incrementally improve the sound, art, effects and environments.

The Harbinger Challenge League:
Challenge leagues are a great opportunity for a fresh start in a new economy. All of your old characters and items are still present in the Standard and Hardcore leagues, but you're encouraged to join the new leagues, complete challenges and demonstrate your mastery of Path of Exile!

With 3.0.0, there are Standard and Hardcore variations of the Harbinger challenge league available, as well as solo self-found variants of both. They have the same core mechanics and items.

In the Harbinger challenge league, mysterious Harbingers have appeared throughout Oriath and Wraeclast. These Harbingers can create and command monsters from the area, and empower them with their own abilities.

Successfully defeating a Harbinger earns you currency shards of both existing currency types and new currency types that have never been seen before.

One of these currency types may lead you to the source of the Harbinger incursion. If you can halt their arrival, you'll find pieces of shattered unique items that can be arranged to form powerful Harbinger-summoning uniques.

The new challenge leagues include a set of 40 new challenges. When you complete 12 challenges, you will receive the Harbinger Glowing Eyes Effect. At 24, you will receive the Harbinger Crown Effect. When you complete your 36th challenge, you will receive the Harbinger Character Effect. These microtransactions are only obtainable in this league.

From the 19th challenge onwards and for every third challenge after that, you will receive pieces of the Harbinger Totem Pole decoration to display in your hideout. The Totem Pole permanently showcases how many of the Harbinger challenges you completed during the league.

Existing Characters and the New Content:

Characters that had previously completed The Ribbon Spool in Merciless difficulty will have automatically completed all mandatory quests in The Fall of Oriath, and have immediate access to maps. These characters will not have any of the quest rewards from the mandatory quests in Acts 5 through 10, but can receive them by talking to the questgivers. No side quests will be automatically completed, and existing characters will have to receive and complete these quests to obtain the quest rewards.

Any characters that had completed Act 4 in Normal but had not completed The Ribbon Spool in Merciless have been returned to the end of Act 4.

All characters that had completed the Deal with the Bandits quest in Act 2 Normal now have the Eramir reward of 2 passive skill points. All bandit rewards from Cruel and Merciless no longer exist. Players who want to change their bandit reward choice have a one-time-only option to change it by talking to Eramir and taking one of his books. These books are character-locked, so if you decide later that you don't want to change your choice, you can get rid of the book by typing /destroy. This does not give you another opportunity to choose a bandit reward, so choose carefully!

All Prophecies, Hideouts, Forsaken Masters and Labyrinth trials have been maintained and work as normal.

Rebalance around Removal of Difficulty Levels:

The Cruel and Merciless resistance penalties have been moved to the completion of Act 5 and the completion of Act 10 respectively. Once either act has been completed, these penalties affect your character in all game areas.

Vaal skill soul costs are increased by 50% of their base soul cost upon completion of Act 5, and increased by a total of 100% of their base soul cost upon completion of Act 10. Like the resistance penalties, these costs affect your character in all game areas.

There is a 5% experience penalty for deaths in Acts 6 through 10, level 5 and 6 Forsaken Master mission areas, and the Cruel and Merciless Labyrinths. There is a 10% experience penalty for deaths in areas reached through the Map device, level 7 and 8 Forsaken Master mission areas, and the Endgame Labyrinth. These replace the old Cruel and Merciless experience penalties, and are only active in those specific areas. Dying in any Act 5 area (or lower) after completion of Act 5 (or higher) will not incur an experience penalty.

The rewards from the quest Deal with the Bandits have been reworked. The rewards from the Cruel and Merciless versions of this quest have been removed. Depending on your choice, you now receive the following:

Access to The Lord's Labyrinth has been reworked. Once unlocked, each Labyrinth can be accessed from the Aspirants' Plaza. Each of the four Labyrinths are named after the old difficulties: The Normal Labyrinth, the Cruel Labyrinth, the Merciless Labyrinth and the Endgame Labyrinth. The Cruel and Merciless Labyrinths now each require the completion of three trials, as well as the earlier Labyrinths. Access to the Endgame Labyrinth now requires completion of the three earlier Labyrinths.

Many Prophecies have been reworked for compatibility in Acts 5 and upwards. Prophecies are no longer bound to a specific difficulty and can be triggered and completed in any relevant area. Some Prophecies, such as several of the Pale Council chain steps, now take place in new locations.

The Ancient Rivalries chain can no longer be obtained from Navali. Existing chains can still be completed. The Hinekora's Sight unique amulet now has a small chance to drop from any enemy spawned by a Prophecy.

The Act 3 quest Piety's Pets now rewards one passive skill point instead of two. The second passive point has been moved to a later quest.

Sarn's underground sewers have been extended and, following incidents of theft and vandalism, the exit into the Warehouse district has been permanently sealed.

The layout of The Marketplace and Catacombs in Act 3 have been modified to fit the new Warehouses-less structure.

The Achievements Breaking Free, Ascension, Vengeance have been renamed to Challenger, Leader and Lord, and are no longer gained by completing the story on various difficulties. Instead, these achievements are obtained by completing the first three Labyrinths.

The Achievements Fearless, Dauntless and Indomitable are no longer gained by completing the story on various difficulties in Hardcore. Instead, these achievements are obtained by completing the first three Labyrinths on Hardcore.

The Achievement End of the Nightmare no longer requires that you kill Malachai, the Nightmare with each class, and instead just require that you kill Malachai, the Nightmare once.

The Achievements All Ears, No Stone Unturned, Locomancer and No Loose Ends have been updated to work with the new act content.

The Achievement Cut Throat can now be earned by killing another player anywhere, not just in a Cut Throat race.

Labyrinth Balance

Access to the Labyrinth has been changed. To access the Labyrinth the first time, you must complete the ordinary 6 prerequisite trials.

To access the Cruel Labyrinth, you must complete the Normal Labyrinth and 3 prerequisite trials, and be at least level 40.

To access the Merciless Labyrinth, you must complete the Cruel Labyrinth and another 3 prerequisite trials, and be at least level 50.

Access to the Endgame Labyrinth requires that you complete the Merciless Labyrinth and the 6 Map trials, and be at least level 60.

All Labyrinths are now accessed via the Aspirants' Plaza. A new user interface allows you to select which Labyrinth you wish to enter. This UI shows which trials you have and have not completed.

Added a waypoint to the Aspirants' Plaza which can be used to access the Plaza from any other waypoint.

Simplified and shortened the layout of the Normal and Cruel Labyrinths.

Rewards throughout all versions of the Labyrinth have been reworked and should be more rewarding for the time invested.

Reading the Labyrinth Map will reveal what the next chamber accessed from the nearby door contains, as opposed to just the current chamber.

Killing Izaro now immediately disables the traps in his room.

Added new darkshrine effects designed specifically for the Labyrinth, all of which positively affect the run in some way. All of the previous darkshrine effects have been disabled.

Secret Passages and Argus can now only be found in the Merciless and Endgame Labyrinths.

Additional Treasure Keys can be found in special chests throughout the Labyrinth. There are two keys guaranteed to appear in every Labyrinth run.

Updated the description on the Offering to the Goddess to reflect that it is now used in the Aspirants' Plaza.

Many Izaro fight variations have been rebalanced or moved to later Labyrinth difficulties:

Conduits now provide 50% less chance to freeze, shock and ignite to Izaro in the Normal Labyrinth, and 33% less in the Cruel and Merciless Labyrinths. The Endgame Labyrinth Conduit balance is unchanged.

Gargoyles now provide 33% less of a benefit to Izaro in the Normal, Cruel and Merciless Labyrinths. The Endgame Labyrinth Gargoyle balance is unchanged.

The Curse Fonts can no longer appear in the Normal Labyrinth and no longer apply a curse when slain in the Cruel Labyrinth. They are also less effective in the Cruel and Merciless Labyrinths. The Endgame Labyrinth Font balance is unchanged.

The Elemental Golems can no longer appear in the Normal Labyrinth, provide 50% less added damage in the Cruel Labyrinth, and 33% less added damage in the Merciless Labyrinth. The Endgame Labyrinth Elemental Golem balance is unchanged.

The Charge Disruptors can no longer appear in the Normal or Cruel Labyrinths. During this variant, Izaro now has a max charge count of 10, down from 15.

Removed the traps from Izaro's final room during the Normal Labyrinth.

Soul Eater will no longer grant reduced physical damage taken or elemental resistances for players who have it. Monsters and minions will still benefit from both reduced physical damage taken and elemental resistances per eaten soul.

The Silence curse now only affects the player's ability to cast spells and use warcries, and will not affect the ability for the player's totems to use those skills.

Chill and Shock are now handled differently:

Chill no longer slows enemies by a fixed amount for a variable duration. Now, Chill will slow enemies for a duration of 2 seconds by an amount based on the Cold damage dealt to the enemy. A purely Cold hit which removes 10% of an enemy's life will slow that enemy by 30% for 2 seconds, scaling linearly down to 0% at no Cold damage dealt.

Similarly, Shock no longer increases the damage taken by enemies by a fixed amount for a variable duration. Now, Shock will apply to enemies for a duration of 2 seconds and increase the amount of damage the shocked enemy takes based on the Lightning damage dealt to the enemy. A purely Lightning hit which removes 10% of an enemy's life will increase the damage that enemy takes by 50% for 2 seconds, scaling linearly down to 0% at no Lightning damage dealt. Shock is still only applied by critical strikes or based on your chance to shock.

Increased Effect of Chill and Increased Effect of Shock will increase the amount that each ailment affects whatever they are afflicting, up to their respective caps. In other words, a player with 100% Increased Effect of Chill will only have to remove 5% of a monster's life with Cold damage to slow them by the maximum 30%. Increasing the effect of Chill further will not slow the monster more, it will just make it easier to reach that 30% cap. The same is true if the player were to deal more cold damage.

Chilled ground has a fixed slowing effect of 10%.

Shocking ground increases damage taken by a fixed amount of 20%.

Other non-hit sources of Shock and Chill, unless otherwise specified in the debuff, will increase damage taken by 20% and slow by 10% respectively.

These changes affect the following sources of Chill:

Arctic Armour: Now slows attackers by 30% for 0.6 seconds.

Essence of Horror on a Shield: Now slows nearby enemies by 10% for 1 second on block.

Dyadus: Now slows enemies by 10% on hits with the weapon while the weapon is in the offhand.

Chilled ground created by players: Now slows enemies by 10%.

These changes affect the following sources of Shock

Vessel of Vinktar: The Shock aura now increases damage taken by 10%, but the Shock on the player still increases damage taken by 50%.

Guardian of the Minotaur: Lightning beams increase damage taken by 50%.

Malachai's Loop: 20% increased damage taken when shocked from reaching maximum power charges.

Piety's beam during the Malachai encounter: No change during Act 4. Increases damage taken by 20% while standing in the beam in the map variant (Eater of Souls).

All shocking ground from players and monsters: Now increases damage taken by 20%.

Damage over Time has been reworked from the ground up, and 'double dipping' is now a thing of the past. To somewhat compensate for the loss of damage from the removal of 'double dipping', the damage of player Ignites, Poisons, and Bleeding has been greatly increased. Increases to these effects on the passive tree have been boosted as well, and additional Poison and Bleeding bonuses have been added to some weapon clusters, on top of their existing stats.

Bleeding is also being changed for players so that it does more damage while the target is stationary, making it a more versatile source of damage. Previously it dealt only one sixth its damage while the target was stationary, but now deals half damage instead. The ratio will remain unchanged for Bleeding caused by monsters, so you will still be able to stand still to mitigate the majority of monster Bleeding damage, but monsters you inflict Bleeding on won't be so lucky.

Skills calculate their Ignite, Poison or Bleed values as a separate damage value, taken straight from the base and added damage of the skill. This gives skills that deal fire damage a minimum and maximum Ignite Damage per Second value that is rolled on Ignites that the skill causes. Poison, Bleed and Ignite damage values are based on the base damage of the skill, and then affected by appropriate damage modifiers. Some damage modifiers affect both the hit and the Ignite, Poison or Bleed, while some only affect one.

Bleeding and Poison are now both considered 'Ailments'. This means their durations are only affected by increased bleeding/poison duration modifiers, and the new ailment duration modifier (they are not elemental ailments, so are not affected by the existing modifier to elemental ailments).

We now only refer to 'Ailments' rather than the longer 'Status Ailments'. The pre-existing 'Elemental Status Ailments' are now referred to as 'Elemental Ailments', and cases where 'Elemental' was left off because there were previously no non-elemental ailments have been corrected.

There are now separate reminder texts for Elemental Ailments and for Ailments.

Puncture and Viper Strike now have a special property of treating Bleeding and Poison respectively as Skill Effects, allowing more bonuses to their duration on top of modifiers to Ailment Duration.

The Character screen now displays values for Ignite, Bleeding and Poison damage per second for applicable skills.

Like previously, Bleeding, Poison and Ignite can't be inflicted if the hit contains no damage of an applicable type.

One consequence of this change is that incoming damage over time now only checks mitigation once (as opposed to once on the hit and once on the damage over time). This means that some enemies, such as those that can Ignite players, may deal more damage than they were previously.

The 'Elemental Damage with Weapons' stats that were found on the passive tree, items, and the Weapon Elemental Damage support have been replaced with 'Elemental Damage with Attack Skills'.

This has two notable effects:

These new stats now modify all of the damage dealt by Attack Skills, not just the attack damage. This means that Damage Over Time dealt by an attack skill, such as Ignite and Secondary Damage (including the explosion from Infernal Blow), will be affected as well. We've made this change to create a natural increase in Ignite damage for characters investing in Elemental Attacks, as a benefit for fire characters.

These stats now apply to Unarmed attacks. This was a necessary result of the change, but it also opens up new avenues for elemental unarmed attack builds.

Skill Balance

Traps and Mines are now invulnerable while they are arming and invulnerable while they are casting their skill. This means a trap thrown directly onto a monster who will detonate it cannot be destroyed before it detonates.

All minions other than Raging Spirits deal more damage at lower levels. This damage bonus levels out to no change at minion level 70 for minions other than Raised Zombies and Summoned Skeletons. (Minion level is based on the level requirement of their gem).

Summoned Raging Spirits now deal approximately 15% less damage at all levels.

Summon Skeletons has been renamed Summon Skeleton, and has been reworked. Many of the passives and items that interact with it have been rebalanced. Summon Skeleton now has a base cast time of 0.5 seconds, and the cost has been reduced by approximately 60% at all levels. It now summons a single skeleton per cast and has a base limit of 5 summoned skeletons.

The Summoned Skeleton Warrior minion's attack time has been reduced to 0.8 seconds, and its base damage has been increased by approximately 66%. Summoned Skeleton Mage minion's cast time has been reduced to 1.2 seconds.

Summoned Skeleton Mages now deal 50% more damage at gem level 20, and significantly more damage at earlier gem levels. Their behaviour has been tweaked and they will no longer flee.

Labyrinth helmet enchantments for Summon Skeleton now grant a 20/40% chance to summon an additional Skeleton minion. This applies to existing Labyrinth enchantments.

Raised Zombies have had their damage increased, up to 45% more damage at level 20 than previously.

Auras and Curses now gain base radius as they level up, as opposed to increased area of effect.

Kinetic Blast can no longer deal explosion damage to the target it hit with its initial projectiles. This is unlikely to affect any previously existing encounters except in niche cases, and will primarily affect fights with very large entities introduced in this patch.

Flameblast, Incinerate and Blade Flurry have had their scaling 'more damage' bonuses changed to 'more damage with hits and ailments', meaning they will still apply to the hit and ailments it causes, but not to on-hit created damage over time effects like Decay.

Blade Vortex had its 'more spell damage' scaling modifier changed to 'more damage with hits for each blade', and separately 'more damage with ailments for each blade'.

Flameblast now grants 55% more ailment damage and 110% more spell damage per stage.

Fire Nova Mine's damage multiplier is now restricted to hits and ailments.

Cyclone now gains additional Melee range as it levels, up to +3 to Melee range at gem level 20. Cyclone's additional melee range now applies to unarmed attacks. Cyclone now also uses pathfinding to determine where the skill will take the player (as opposed to moving in a direct line). Cyclone's description has been updated.

Herald of Ash, Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder now each have the Herald gem tag.

Herald of Ash's secondary effect no longer ignites. Instead, enemies near slain enemies are burned based on the overkill damage. The description on Herald of Ash has been updated to properly reflect what it does.

Vortex now deals 40% more damage when cast on a Frostbolt.

Ice Nova now deals 40% more damage when cast on a Frostbolt.

Caustic Arrow's damage over time grows more quickly as it levels, up to 765 base Chaos damage per second at gem level 20 (up from 550.3). It is also now modified by projectile damage modifiers.

Contagion deals 10% more damage at level 1, up to 25% more damage at gem level 20, and now has a 0.6 second cast time, down from 0.85 seconds. Contagion now gains +1 base area of effect radius every 5 levels.

Righteous Fire now deals 20% less damage to enemies at all levels. You now deal 20% more spell damage while Righteous Fire is active with a level 1 Righteous Fire gem (down from 40% more spell damage), up to 39% more spell damage at gem level 20 (down from 58% more spell damage).

Fire Trap's damage over time grows more quickly as it levels, up to 701.2 base Fire damage per second at gem level 20 (up from 518.8).

Scorching Ray's damage has been reduced by 15% at level 1, down to 25% less damage at level 20. Scorching Ray now does not lock onto targets if you are holding your standing-attack key.

Temporal Chains is no longer affected by its own duration-modifying stat. The duration has been modified to account for this change.

Glacial Cascade's damage has been increased by approximately 33% at all levels. Glacial Cascade now deals entirely base physical damage, and has 60% of its base damage converted to Cold. The base range of Glacial Cascade has been reduced to 12 from 14. Glacial Cascade now gains +1 range every 10 gem levels. At level 1 of the gem, Glacial Cascade is 29% shorter in length.

The movement speed cap on players' Raised Spectres has been doubled.

Summoned totems have 45% less life and take 45% less damage. This will impact life leeched from attacking enemy totems and the damage dealt by Righteous Fire totems.

Puncture's description has been updated. Puncture now applies Bleeding for 8 seconds.

Viper Strike's base damage has been reduced to 115% at gem level 1, from 130%, up to 141.6% at gem level 20 (down from 179.4% at level 20). Viper Strike has a 60% chance to poison on hit (down from 100%) and Viper Strike's poison now has a base duration of 4 seconds (from 8).

Static Strike now has 10% Chance to Shock at all levels, and gains 1% increased Shock Effect per gem level.

The description on Summon Stone Golem has been updated to reflect that it may not always taunt.

Vaal skills can no longer be supported by Spell Echo or Multistrike.

Vaal Rain of Arrows now gains base radius as it levels up, up to +4 to base radius at gem level 20.

Vaal Ground Slam now gains base radius as it levels up, up to +6 to base radius at gem level 20.

Support Gem Balance

Added descriptions to all Support Gems to clarify what can and cannot be supported by each gem.

Added Cold Support and Added Lightning Support have been buffed, bringing them on par with the Added Chaos support gem. Added Cold Support now does 35.1% more damage at gem level 20. Added Lightning Support now does 17.5% more damage at gem level 20.

Melee Damage on Full Life Support has been renamed Damage on Full Life Support. At gem level 1 it now grants 30% more Damage while on Full Life for supported Attack skills. It is notably no longer restricted to melee attacks or physical damage specifically. Damage on Full Life Support now grants 1% increased Damage per 1% Quality (was 1% increased Melee Damage per 1% Quality). It now has the Attack tag, but no longer has the Melee tag.

Melee Physical Damage Support now also grants 30% more Damage with Bleeding and Poison caused by Melee hits at gem level 1.

Physical Projectile Attack Damage Support now also grants 30% more Damage with Bleeding and Poison caused by Projectile hits. It now has the Attack tag.

Poison Support now grants a 60% chance to Poison on Hit (down from 100%).

Increased Burning Damage Support has been renamed Burning Damage Support. It now provides 35% more Burning Damage at gem level 1, up to 54% more Burning Damage at gem level 20.

Trap Support now deals 20% more Trap Damage at gem level 1, rather than more Trap damage to hits, up to 39% more Trap Damage at gem level 20.

Remote Mine Support now deals 30% more Mine damage at gem level 1, rather than more Mine damage to hits, up to 49% more Mine damage at gem level 20.

Weapon Elemental Damage Support has been renamed Elemental Damage with Attacks Support. It has been reduced in power at all levels, from 40% to 35% at gem level 1, up to 54% more Elemental Damage with Attack skills at gem level 20.

Rapid Decay Support has been renamed Swift Affliction Support. In addition to other sources of Damage over Time, it now affects damaging Ailments inflicted by supported skills, and reduces their duration. It now grants 25% more Damage over Time for supported skills at gem level 1 (up from 20%) and 44% more Damage over time at gem level 20 (up from 39%).

Innervate Support has been reworked. It now grants 20% chance to shock at all levels (up from 15). At level 1 of the gem, it grants 1-25 added Lightning damage to supported skills, up to 11-218 added Lightning damage at level 20, and grants Innervation for 4 seconds on slaying a shocked enemy with a supported skill. At level 1, the Innervation buff grants 1 to 17 added Lightning damage for 4 seconds, up to 8-145 added Lightning damage at level 20. Innervate now has a 130% Mana Cost multiplier.

Ice Bite Support has also been reworked. It now grants 15% chance to freeze at all levels. and a 50% chance to gain a Frenzy charge on slaying a frozen enemy. At gem level 1, it now grants 8 to 12 added cold damage, up to 69-103 added cold damage at gem level 20. It also grants 2 to 3 added cold damage per Frenzy charge at gem level 1, up to 15 to 23 added Cold damage per Frenzy Charge at gem level 20.

Hypothermia now grants 20% increased Chill Effect at all levels.

Chain Support's damage penalty now only applies to hits.

Chance to Ignite now grants 10% more Fire Damage at gem level 1, up to 29% more Fire Damage at gem level 20.

Pierce Rework

Pierce has been reworked. Items and skills that used to use or provide pierce chance now instead use or provide a number of pierces. Once a projectile has reached its pierce limit, it will not pierce further.

The following skills have changed as a result of the Pierce rework:

Shrapnel Shot pierces 4 targets at level 1, up to 7 at level 20.

Siege Ballista pierces 6 targets at level 1, up to 9 at level 20.

Pierce Support now provides +2 Pierces at level 1, up to +4 Pierces at level 20.

The following items have had their Pierce mods replaced:

Infractem now grants Always Pierce with Arrows.

Drillneck now grants Arrows that Pierce deal 50% increased Damage.

Lioneye's Vision now grants Always Be Pierced.

Voidwalker now grants +5 Pierces while Phasing.

Poacher's Aim now grants +1 Pierce.

Penetrating Arrow Quiver now grants +1 Pierce.

Horned Talisman's implicit now grants +2 to +3 Pierces.

Screaming, Shrieking and Deafening Essences of Misery now grant +1, +1, and +2 Pierces respectively. Existing Shrieking Essence of Misery mods that specifically had a 20% chance to pierce will become +2 Pierces.

The helmet Labyrinth enchantments for Lightning Trap Pierce Chance now grant +2 Pierces from the Merciless Labyrinth, and +3 Pierces from the Endgame Labyrinth.

The helmet Labyrinth enchantments for Lightning Strike Pierce Chance now grant +2 Pierces from the Merciless Labyrinth, and +3 Pierces from the Endgame Labyrinth.

The helmet Labyrinth enchantments for Glacial Cascade now grant 30% and 40% Physical to Cold Conversion.

The unique jewel Omen on the Winds now grants +5 Pierces when there is at least 40 Dexterity in Radius.

All local Energy Shield modifiers on items, as well as the base Energy Shield of items, have been reduced at higher levels. Very low-level items will see a slight increase or no change, scaling up to a 33% reduction at the highest tier of modifiers.

Because of Armour/Energy Shield and Evasion/Energy Shield equipment, we've had to apply this change to the local percentage modifiers on all other armour types as well. To compensate, all inherent values of base Armour and Evasion Rating on equipment are now greater at higher item levels.

The defences granted by all body armour has been increased at higher levels by 20%.

These changes will not apply to existing modifiers but will apply to existing base types. As a consequence, the Energy Shield values on many unique items have also been updated.

The following mods can now be crafted at Haku's Armourer's Bench: +27-34 to Maximum Energy Shield can be applied to all Armour Slots, +35-45 to Maximum Energy Shield can be applied to Body Armour, Shield and Helmet, +56-69 to Maximum Energy Shield can be applied to Body Armour and Shield.

Local Added Energy Shield modifiers have been rebalanced at all levels. Early mods grant more energy shield, dropping to 36%-45% less energy shield at the highest tier.

Quests that would offer either a rare item or a 4-linked item now just offer a 4-linked rare item.

Dexterity-based shields now have an implicit that grants increased Movement Speed.

The implicits of hybrid Dexterity/Intelligence shields have been reworked. They now grant either Chance to Dodge Attacks or Chance to Dodge Spells.

Added new mods for shields which are restricted to specific shield types based on their attribute requirements. These new mods grant: Increased Elemental Damage, Increased Physical Damage, Increased Armour and Block Chance, % of Maximum Life Regenerated per Second, Life gained on Block, Mana gained on Block, Chance to Dodge, Chance to Dodge Spells, Chance to Block Spells, Chance to avoid Ailments, Increased Attack and Cast Speed, Increased Attack Damage, Chance to Avoid Stun.

Added new prefixes for Armours. These can only appear on hybrid armours, and replace the pure added Armour, added Evasion and added Energy Shield mods which could previously appear on these armours. These mods grant the following at 75% of the values of their 'pure' counterparts: Added Armour and Evasion Rating, Added Armour and Energy Shield, Added Evasion Rating and Energy Shield.

Added new prefixes for Armours. These are not restricted to pure or hybrid items, but can only appear on items which have the defense they provide: Added Armour and Life, Added Evasion Rating and Life, Added Energy Shield and Life.

Ming's Heart: Reduced Life and Energy Shield now has a range of 5-10%.

The Taming: Chance to Freeze, Shock and Ignite has been increased to 10%. Increased Elemental damage with Attack Skills has been increased to 30%. All Elemental Resistances has been increased to 20-30%. Increased Elemental damage has been increased to 30%. Increased damage per Freeze, Shock and Ignite has been increased to 20%.

Hand of Thought and Motion: No longer adds 1-3 Lightning damage to Attacks per 10 Intelligence. Now grants 1-5 lightning damage added to attacks with this weapon per 10 Intelligence.

Hand of Wisdom And Action: No longer adds 1-6 Lightning damage to Attacks per 10 Intelligence. Now grants 1-10 lightning damage added to attacks with this weapon per 10 Intelligence.

Brutus' Lead Sprinkler: No longer adds 2-4 Fire damage to attacks per 10 Strength. Now grants 4-7 Fire damage added to attacks with this weapon per 10 Strength.

Infernal Mantle: Increased Spell Damage taken on Low Mana has been reduced to 25%, and Increased Energy Shield has been reduced to 120-160%.

Vessel of Vinktar: No longer has Lightning Damage Leeched as Mana during Flask Effect. The Shock aura now increases the damage taken by enemies within it by 10% (down from 30%).

Dying Sun: Increased Area of Effect lowered to 15-25%.

Kiara's Determination: Reduced Flask Duration increased to 60%.

Breath of the Council: Now grants 80-100% increased Chaos damage.

Choir of the Storm: No longer grants -30% Lightning Resistance. Note that important non-divinable changes for this item can be found further down.

Dead Reckoning now grants the ability to summon an additional 5 Skeleton Mages, up from 3.

The following changes CANNOT be obtained by rerolling the item's mods with a Divine Orb and will only appear on new versions of these items:

Glitterdisc: Now grants Always Ignite while Burning.

Atziri's Mirror: Now has 10% additional Chance to Block while not Cursed. Now has 20% additional Chance to Block Spells while Cursed.

The Dark Seer: No longer grants Mana or Energy Shield on kill. Now grants two of: 1 Maximum Life per level, 1 Maximum Mana per level or 1 Maximum Energy Shield per level.

Bloodgrip: Now found on a Marble Amulet base type.

Emberwake: 65% slower Burn with Ignites. No longer prevents you from dealing extra damage with Critical Strikes, and no longer grants 80% less Burning Damage.

Heatshiver: No longer grants +1 to level of socketed Fire and Cold gems. Now grants 20-30% increased Cold Damage if a Fire skill was used recently, and 20-30% increased Fire Damage if a Cold skill was used recently.

Ornament of the East: Now supports socketed gems with level 10 Faster Attacks.

Moonsorrow: Now supports socketed gems with level 20 Blind.

Cloak of Defiance: No longer has 40-50% increased Mana Regeneration. Now has an additional 1% of maximum Mana regenerated per second. Now has 10% of damage taken from mana before life.

Asphyxia's Wrath: No longer has 40% reduced area effect of curses. No longer has 20% of physical damage converted to cold damage. Now grants 20% of physical damage added as extra cold damage. Now grants level 5 Frostbite. Doubled the radius at which curses can spread.

Lioneye's Glare: Now grants Far Shot.

Sidhebreath: Now grants 10-15% reduced Mana Cost of Minion Skills.

Al Dhih: Now grants Trigger level 1 Abyssal Cry on hit.

Doryani's Fist: Now grants the Doryani's Touch skill.

Death's Oath: The chaos damage-over-time aura is now a skill that activates on equipping Death's Oath, and is modified by socketed support gems as well as modifiers that affect auras, area of effect, damage over time and chaos damage. It now also grants +60-70 Maximum Life, and the Physical Attack leeched as Life is now Attack Damage leeched as Life.

The following changes affect existing items automatically:

Sacrificial Harvest: Now limited to 1.

Grand Spectrum: Now limited to 3. Note that this limit is shared across all versions of Grand Spectrum.

Queen's Decree: now grants +1 to maximum number of Skeletons, down from +2.

Alberon's Warpath: now grants +1 to maximum number of Skeletons, down from +2.

Midnight Bargain: now grants +1 to maximum number of Skeletons, down from +2.

Prismweave: Increased Weapon Elemental Damage while using a Flask has been replaced with Increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills while using a Flask.

Essentia Sanguis: Ghost Reaver has been replaced with Life Leech is applied to Energy Shield instead. This does not change the functionality of Essentia Sanguis at all.

Atziri's Acuity: Now grants Gain Life and Mana from Leech instantly on Critical Strike (can no longer instantly leech to Energy Shield).

Growing Agony: Now grants 2% increased damage with Viper Strike hits and Poison per Poison on the enemy while the threshold is met (as opposed to just increasing the attack damage).

Vessel of Vinktar: The original versions now grant Gain Life and Mana from Leech instantly (can no longer instantly leech to Energy Shield).

The Dancing Dervish: Improved the behaviour of the Manifested weapon minion.

Sentari's Answer: Now ignores your curse limit.

Praxis: The Damage Taken gained as Mana when Hit now occurs over 4 seconds.

Mindspiral: The Damage Taken gained as Mana when Hit now occurs over 4 seconds.

Victario's Flight: The Damage Taken gained as Mana when Hit now occurs over 4 seconds.

Spirited Response: The Damage Taken gained as Mana when Hit during Rallying Cry now occurs over 4 seconds.

Voice of the Storm/Choir of the Storm: No longer grants increased Critical Strike Chance based on your Uncapped Lightning Resistance. Instead, it grants increased Critical Strike Chance based on your Lightning Resistance (which is typically capped at 75%).

Emberwake: Now only allows 1 additional Ignite. No longer grants 80% less Burning Damage. Instead, 65% slower Burn with Ignites (to get the 65% value you will have to use a Divine orb).

Items that Inflict Bleeding or Poison:

All weapons which previously inflicted Bleeding or Poison on hit (or critical strike) now only inflict Bleeding or Poison on hits (or critical strikes) with that specific weapon.

Goredrill: Melee Critical Strikes cause Bleeding has been changed to 50% chance to cause Bleeding with Melee Critical Strikes with this Weapon.

Slivertongue: Now has a 50% chance to inflict Bleeding with Piercing arrows (down from 100%).

The Blood Reaper: Now has a 50% chance to inflict Bleeding on hit (down from 100%).

Kondo's Pride: Now has a 50% chance to infliuct Bleeding on Melee Critical Strike (down from 100%)

Many other weapons which previously inflicted Bleeding on hit with a 100% chance now only have a 25% chance to inflict Bleeding. This affects the following weapons: The Blood Reaper, Atzir's Disfavour, Jack, the Axe, Rigwald's Savagery, Rive, Uul-Netol's Kiss, Uul-Netol's Embrace, Slivertongue, all weapons with Vagan's crafted mod, all weapons with Tora's vendor mod, .

One-time Passive Skill Reset:

Due to balance changes, every existing character has been granted an optional full passive skill reset.

This process will also reset your allocated Ascendancy points.

To perform this operation, click the "Reset all Passives" button on the passive skill screen. Note that you must use this before allocating or refunding any other points otherwise the option will go away.

Passive Tree Balance

Due to the significant changes made to Damage over Time, many bleeding-, burning- and poison-focused passive skills have been readjusted. New clusters have been added for bleeding damage and poison damage, and many existing passive skills have also gained stats that affect damage over time:

Passive skills that granted melee attacks a chance to cause Bleeding now grant that chance to all attacks (not just melee).

All weapon passive skill clusters except those for wands and staves now grant some increased Damage with ailments from Attacks.

Added a new Keystone between the Scion and the Shadow - Perfect Agony: Modifiers from Critical Strike Multiplier also apply to Damage Multiplier for Ailments from Critical Strikes at 30% of their value. 30% less Damage with Hits.

Added a new Keystone near the Duelist - Crimson Dance: 50% less Bleeding Damage. Bleeding can be stacked up to 8 times. Bleeding doesn't do extra damage while the target is moving.

Dirty Techniques, near the Duelist, now specifically provides increases to Bleeding and Poison damage and chance.

Added a new cluster near the Duelist which enhances Bleeding and Poison chance and damage, with a notable named Dirty Techniques.

Added a new small cluster between the Duelist and the ranger which enhances Poison chance and damage, with a notable named Toxic Strikes.

Holy Fire near the Templar now grants 60% increased Burning Damage (up from 40%), and the passives preceding it now grant 20% increased Burning Damage (up from 15%).

The first passive skill on the Razor's Edge branch near the Marauder now grants 10% chance to cause Bleeding with Attacks.

Cleaving, near the Marauder, and the passive skills preceding it now grant a total of 25% chance to cause Bleeding with Attacks.

Two of the passive skills leading to Heavy Draw near the Ranger now grant a total of 25% chance to cause Bleeding with Bow Attacks

The passive skills leading to Brutal Blade near the Ranger now grant a total of 20% Chance to Poison on Hit.

The passive skills leading to Bloody Bludgeon, between the Marauder and Duelist, now grant a total of 25% chance to cause Bleeding with Attacks.

Added a small cluster with a notable named Red Storm near Iron Grip. It grants improves Bleeding and Physical damage.

Added Master Fletcher between the Duelist and Ranger. It grants chance to Poison on Hit with Attacks and increases to Bow damage.

Added a new notable at the back of the Shadow's Claw wheel: Poisonous Fangs. It and nearby passives grant a 20% chance to Poison on Hit, and increased Physical Damage with Claws.

Martial Experience between the Templar and Marauder now grants 30% increased Damage with Bleeding instead of Accuracy, and the passives preceding it now grant 10% increased Damage with Bleeding.

Fencing between the Duelist and Ranger now grants 30% increased Damage with Bleeding, and the passives preceding it from the south now each grant 10% increased Damage with Bleeding. The Accuracy with One Handed Weapons passive in this cluster has been changed to One Handed Critical Strike Chance.

Breath of Flames near the Witch now grants 10% increased Ignite duration on Enemies, 30% increased Burning Damage, and 5% chance to Ignite. The passive skills preceding it now grant 20% increased Burning damage rather than 10% increased Fire damage.

The Bloodletting cluster near the Duelist has been expanded and now specifically only increases damage with Bleeding. The Increase to Damage with Bleeding on the notable has been ...increased... to 70% (from 30%), and the increased Attack Damage against Bleeding Enemies is now 40% (up from 25%).

The Fatal Toxins cluster near the Shadow has been expanded, and the notable now grants 70% increased Damage with Poison (up from 50%).

Due to the changes to Shock and Chill, the following passive skills have changed:

Breath of Rime now grants 10% chance to Freeze (up from 5%), 12% increased Cold Damage (up from 10%), and 15% increased Chill Effect. The preceding skills have also changed: the first now grants 12% Increased Cold Damage (Up from 10%) and the rest now grant 8% increased Cold Damage, and an additional bonus to either Chill Duration, Freeze Duration, Chill Effect or Chance to Freeze.

Breath of Lightning now grants 10% chance to Shock (up from 5%), 12% increased Lightning Damage (up from 10%) and 15% increased Shock Effect. The preceding skills have also changed: the first now grants 12% increased Lightning Damage (Up from 10%), and the rest now grant 8% increased Lightning Damage, and an additional bonus to either Shock Duration, Shock Effect or Chance to Shock.

Fingers of Frost now gives 10% chance to Freeze Enemies which are Chilled (rather than 5% chance to Freeze), 12% increased Cold Damage, and 10% increased Chill Effect. The preceding skills have also changed: They now all give 8% Cold Damage and an additional bonus to either Chill Duration, Freeze Duration, Chill Effect or Freeze Chance.

Crackling Speed between the Witch and Shadow now also grants 10% increased Shock Effect.

Mind over Matter now applies to Damage over Time as well as Hits.

Passives which granted increased Weapon Elemental Damage or increases to specific elements with weapons now grant increases to those elements with Attack Skills instead.

Several of the passives which granted Chance to Pierce near the Shadow now grant increased Projectile damage.

The passive skills behind Chaos Inoculation have been removed.

Assassination near the Shadow has had its Critical Strike Multiplier reduced to +35%.

Adder's Touch near the Shadow has had its Critical Strike Multiplier with Daggers reduced to +30%, Chance to Poison on Critical Strike with Daggers increased to 40%, and it now grants 40% increased Poison Damage.

Heartseeker near the Ranger has had its Critical Strike Multiplier reduced to +30%.

Lethality near the Ranger has had its Critical Strike Multiplier with Bows reduced to +30%.

Serpent Stance between the Witch and Templar has had its Global Critical Strike Multiplier while wielding a Staff reduced to 35%.

Lord of the Dead now +1 skeleton, down from +2.

Herd the Flock no longer grants +1 skeleton.

The location of the Heart and Soul cluster near the Witch has moved to above Practical Application and grants 5% increased Maximum Life and 8% increased Maximum Mana per passive on the smaller passives, and 8% increased Maximum Life and 12% increaed Maximum Mana on the notable.

Arcane Focus near the Witch has been rearranged to integrate the notable into the path through it.

The Annihilation Spell Critical Strike Chance cluster, and the Blast Radius Area of Effect cluster, both near the witch, are now closed loops.

Ghost Reaver now grants 50% less Energy Shield Recharge Rate in addition to granting leeched Life as Energy Shield.

Vaal Pact now only applies to leeched life.

Moved the Exceptional Performance cluster (near the Scion) slightly away from the projectile damage and resistances wheel next to it.

Battle Rouse between the Duelist and Marauder now grants Damage Taken gained as Mana when Hit over 4 Seconds.

The Hierophant's Sanctuary of Thought skill now grants 30% of Maximum Mana as Extra Maximum Energy Shield (up from 25%).

The Hierophant's Pursuit of Faith skill now grants 6% increased Damage per Enemy Killed by you or your Totems Recently, and 10% increased Attack and Cast Speed while you have a Totem (up from 4% and 8% respectively).

The Hierophant's Ritual of Awakening skill now grants 7% less Totem Damage per Totem (down from 8%).

The Trickster's Patient Reaper skill now grants 70% increased Recovery Rate of Life, Mana and Energy Shield if you've Killed an Enemy affected by your Damage Over Time Recently (up from 60%).

The Trickster's Swift Killer skill now also grants +1 to Maximum Power Charges, and 5% increased Damage over Time per Frenzy and Power charge.

The Assassin's Toxic Delivery skill has been reduced to 30% more damage with Bleeding and Poison from Bleeding and Poison inflicted by Critical Strikes (down from 100%).

The Assassin's Deadly Infusion skill no longer grants +0.5% Critical Strike Chance per Power Charge. It now grants +1 to maximum Power Charges, and +2% to Critical Strike Chance while at maximum Power Charges.

The Necromancer's Commander of Darkness skill now grants 3% increased Attack and Cast Speed to you and Allies per aura (down from 5%), and 30% increased Damage for you and Allies affected by your Auras (instead of 10% increased Damage for you and Allies per aura).

The Ascendant's Path of the Marauder, Duelist, Ranger, Shadow, Witch and Templar skills now each grant 2 passive skill points in addition to allowing you to place passive points at their respective starting locations.

The Ascendant's Juggernaut skill now grants a 20% chance to gain an Endurance Charge when you are Hit (up from 10%).

The Ascendant's Berserker skill now grants 20% increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed if you've taken a Savage Hit recently (instead of 25% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've taken a Savage Hit recently).

The Ascendant's Raider skill now grants a 10% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge when you hit a Rare or Unique enemy (rather than on kill) and 10% increased Movement Speed (rather than 25% chance to avoid elemental status ailments).

The Ascendant's Deadeye skill now grants Projectiles gain Damage as they travel further, dealing up to 50% increased Damage to targets (up from 30%). The Deadeye also now grants 30% increased Projectile Speed, but no longer grants 15% chance to cause Bleeding with Attacks. As part of the Pierce rework, the Deadeye's 30% Pierce chance has become +2 Pierces.

The Ascendant's Pathfinder skill now grants 30% increased Damage while using a Flask (up from 25%), 10% increased Movement Speed while using a flask, 10% chance for your Flasks to not consume Charges, and a 50% chance to gain a Flask charge when you deal a Critical Strike. It no longer grants 50% increased Flask Charges gained, 50% chance to avoid Freeze, Shock, Ignite and Bleeding while using a Flask, or 4% reduced Elemental Damage taken while using a Flask.

The Ascendant's Elementalist now grants Elemental Conflux for 6 seconds when you kill a Rare or Unique Enemy (up from 4 seconds), Damage Penetrates 6% of Enemy Elemental Resistances (up from 5%), +1 to the number of Golems you can have active, and 50% reduced reflected Elemental damage taken. It no longer grants 30% increased Damage of each Damage Type for which you have a matching Golem, or 4% reduced Elemental damage taken.

The Ascendant's Necromancer skill now grants 30% increased damage for You and Allies affected by Auras you Cast (up from 15%), +20% Chaos resistance for You and Allies affected by Auras you Cast, and 20% increased Skill Effect Duration. It no longer grants 15% increased effect of Offering spells.

The Ascendant's Slayer skill now grants 40% increased Damage to Rare and Unique Enemies (up from 30%), 50% reduced reflected Physical Damage taken, and Life Leech does not stop at Full Life. It no longer grants 10% of Overkill Damage is Leeched as Life.

The Ascendant's Champion skill now grants 20% chance to Fortify on Melee Hit (up from 10%), 30% increased Damage for you and nearby Allies while you have Fortify (up from 15%) and 5% reduced Damage taken from Taunted Enemies (up from 4%).

The Ascendant's Hierophant skill now grants 50% chance to gain a Power Charge when you place a Totem (up from 20%).

The Ascendant's Guardian skill now grants You and Allies affected by your Auras have 10% increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed (instead of 12% increased Attack and Cast Speed for You and Allies affected by Auras you Cast), 5% additional Block chance for you and Allies affected by your Auras (up from 3% and no longer simply affecting you), and 25% reduced effect of Curses on you. The Ascendant's Guardian no longer removes Curses and Ailments from you every 5 seconds.

The Ascendant's Assassin skill now grants 20% chance to gain a Power Charge on Hit against Enemies that are on Full Life (up from 10%), and +1.5% to Critical Strike Chance (up from 1%).

The Ascendant's Trickster skill now grants 50% increased Recovery Rate of Life, Mana and Energy Shield if you've Killed an Enemy affected by your Damage Over Time Recently (up from 30%), and 15 Mana Regenerated per second if you've used a Movement Skill recently (rather than 100% increased Mana Regeneration if you've used a Movement Skill Recently).

The Ascendant's Saboteur skill now grants 10% increased Movement Speed if you have placed a Mine or thrown a Trap recently, and Trap and Mine Damage Penetrate 6% Elemental Resistances. It no longer grants 6% Elemental Resistance Penetration if you've detonated a Mine recently, or 20% increased Trap and Mine cooldown recovery speed.

Monster Balance

The crabs in the Coast in Act 1 have been cured of their infestation... for now.

Dreadwheel monsters can now be found in The Climb in Act 1.

Scarecrow monsters can now be found in the Old Fields in Act 2.

The Touch of God skill used by Dominus now deals damage in an area that more accurately matches its visual effect.

The Pale Council encounter has been rebalanced and is, in general, more difficult. Defeating the Pale Council will earn you one of four new unique items exclusively available from them.

Monsters that are created as part of a Prophecy now use the Prophecy-holder's level to determine their level, up to a cap of level 70 in non-map areas. In map areas, monsters created by Prophecies will be the same level as the map area.

Many unique monsters which were previously immune to Ailments have had their immunities removed, with the exception of Freeze. Notably, this includes several Beyond Demons, the Atziri Trio, Atziri herself, The Shaper and his Guardians, among others.

The Volatile Flameblood, Volatile Iceblood and Volatile Stormblood Nemesis mods have been disabled and replaced by Volatile Core. Volatile Core monsters create an entity on death which pursues players until it explodes.

The Banshee monsters in the Crystal Veins have been renamed Shriekers.

The damage dealt by the Lightning Orb skill used by rare monsters in Esh breaches has been reduced by 8%. The Lightning Orbs can no longer stun players.

Increased the life of all Invasion bosses by 50%.

The Bloodlines mod Bonds of Chaos has been disabled.

Rhoas in the Mud Flats now enrage if you destroy their nests.

Pale Blackguards now enrage when below 75% life (up from 50%).

Plague Retch has returned from his sabbatical and once again taken up residence in Chamber of Sins while he works on his memoirs. We are excited to hear all about his journeys.

Slaying Hillock will guarantee that he drops a three-socket, three-colour starter weapon for your class.

Marceus the Defaced has had his item drops greatly reduced due to his proximity to the Marketplace waypoint.

Tormented Spirits no longer possess hidden monsters.

The average experience per monster has been slightly reduced at high levels.

Map Balance

Map boss life has been adjusted. In general, map boss life has increased significantly, and most map boss encounters within the same tier will have similar total life pools The gap between the life of tier 15 map bosses and the tier 16 Guardians is much smaller. The life of the tier 16 Guardians remains unchanged.

Added new mods which can roll on all map tiers as prefixes. These mods cause Solaris fanatics, Lunaris fanatics and Ghosts to inhabit the map.

Breaches can now be encountered in 10% of maps by default. A sextant mod has been added which guarantees a Breach in the affected maps but does not override the 10% chance to find a Breach naturally.

The Shaper now prevents players from opening portals while fighting him. Zana has 50% more life during the Shaper encounter. The grace period when re-entering the Shaper encounter mid-fight has been reduced to 3 seconds.

Lair of the Hydra: The Hydra's Teleport Shot cooldown has been increased to 25 seconds (from 20). Reduced the damage dealt by the Hydra Turrets by 10% and reduced their firing rate by up to 30% as the Hydra's life drops. Increased the damage of the Hydra's Barrage and Doom Arrow by 20%.

Overgrown Ruin: The boss room's orientation has been flipped, making it safer to approach the boss. The boss has been moved further back into the room.

Armoury: Now has its own secret chest, instead of using the Labyrinth's.

Lycius, Midnight's Howl and The Cursed King: Increased the cooldown on the Wolf Barrage from 10 seconds to 15 seconds, and reduced the damage reduction the boss gains during the Wolf Barrage (he will take more damage during the barrage than previously).

Rigwald, the Wolven King, Lycius, Midnight's Howl and The Cursed King: Now correctly kill most entities created during the fight on death, without killing other monsters.

Promenade: The Blackguard Tempest unique monsters have a longer cast time for their Lightning Thorns skill. This is to give players an opportunity to stop attacking.

The Goddess of Justice: Now uses her warp ability more conditionally.

Guardian of the Vault: Now uses his Hide ability less frequently.

It That Fell: Now uses his Hide ability much less frequently.

Monsters that use Blinding Gaze in maps now use it much more quickly.

Porcupine Goliaths in maps now have a 70% chance to release spikes on death (down from 100%).

Bog and Arid Lake: Defeating the map boss while it is enraged is now more rewarding.

Added 15 Grandmasters to the Hall of Grandmasters and replaced 2 existing Grandmasters with updated versions. Balance changes to charges, ailments, damage over time and pierce have been propagated out to the Grandmasters. Several Grandmasters have been adjusted as a result of these balance changes.

Temple: The portals in the boss room no longer have massive hitboxes that extend far beyond the portals themselves.

Mesa: The location where players appear in the boss room has been moved farther away from the exit. The boss has been moved slightly farther away to prevent players from accidentally engaging the boss from this new spot.

Burial Chambers: The boss's cauldrons have been moved farther away from each other.

Further balanced the monster density of end-game maps. Some have been lowered and some have been raised.

You can no longer appear in the middle of a pack of monsters on a fresh Barrows map.

EDIT: Please note, we incorrectly stated existing characters would have the new version of their chosen Bandit reward. This is not the case -- all players will have the Eramir reward (2 passive skill points) by default. You can change this for free once by talking to Eramir. Sorry for the confusion.

Any news on the 6 second disconnect timer being changed from a static duration to a user-configurable one?
For most builds, suddenly losing control of your character for 6 seconds is almost guaranteed death if it happens mid-combat, and that's a pretty large issue for those playing in HC. Even in first world countries, the best available internet connections can just cut off left and right, and most people I know have lost characters to this at least once. Every high-level player I've talked to agrees that it should be changed, and it's just hard to imagine that the minor downsides could possibly outweigh the upsides. It'd also enable HC to many people, who'd otherwise prefer it over Standard, but just can't play it since their internet connections are consistently too unstable.
It's very frustrating to never hear anything about this, and to think of it as the incredible patch that could be, but for no reason isn't.